The frigid night air enveloped the capital, an unsettling silence broken only by the whisper of wind snaking through alleyways. Suddenly, a discordant sound shattered the tranquility: ragged, choking moans emerging from the darkness.
They came from a knight running desperately, his armor fogged and stained with blood that glistened under the faint moonlight. His footsteps echoed on the cobblestones as he muttered to himself, as if trying to convince himself of a terrifying truth.
"That's not a human... it's impossible for it to be one," he gasped, his eyes wide with terror. "All of us were experienced knights, and we were defeated by that thing! It's impossible for it to be human!"
Suddenly, a silhouette moved with feline agility over the roofs of adjacent buildings, leaping between shadows with supernatural grace. It landed on the ground with a dull thud, revealing a skeletal figure dressed only in black pants held up by a leather belt. Its bare torso showed pronounced ribs and skin pale as wax.
In its hands, long silver blades mimicking tiger claws gleamed with their own light. A worn bandage covered its eyes, and its tongue hung out of its mouth, licking the air like an enraged dog.
The knight fell to his knees, pleading with trembling hands.
"Mercy! Don't—"
The words cut off in a gurgle of blood. Zadu had claimed another victim.
◇◇◇
Rex crouched behind a thick oak tree, his eyes fixed on an imposing mansion rising behind a wrought-iron gate. His breath frosted in the night air.
"Did you find them?" whispered Patrick, arriving stealthily with Donny.
"Yes, they're in that house," Rex replied without looking away.
Patrick held his breath upon recognizing the place.
"I know this property. My father told me to avoid approaching it at all costs."
Donny frowned, confused.
"Who is it? My family left the capital years ago, I don't recognize the crest."
"Timothy Ford Lafan," Rex answered in a grave voice. "A baron who's considered one of the pillars of the women's trade. The worst part is that if no one has been able to destroy him, it's because someone powerful protects him."
"E-exactly... I'm surprised you know that," murmured Patrick, bewildered. "In my job as a ditch cleaner, I heard stories about him."
(Lie. In the game, this guy was part of the important event where the heroine fell in love with Ricky, a confrontation between underworld bosses... but now that event is ruined.)
"It doesn't matter who he is," said Rex, turning to them with determination. "We have to save Lillie at all costs."
His eyes scanned his friends' faces, marked by fear but also by resolution.
"Guys, I don't want to involve you. You should go and get help. I'll handle—"
"No, we'll all go!" Donny interrupted.
"It's true," added Patrick. "We can't abandon Lillie-san. Even if I don't think I'll be much help..."
The determination in their voices reminded Rex of his previous life, when his squadmates came back for him in a desperate situation. A proud smile touched his lips.
"You guys... are the best friends anyone could ask for."
He straightened up, adopting a strategic tone.
"But I don't want you to be in danger. You'll cause a distraction while I look for Lillie. That way you won't face unnecessary risks, understand?"
"Yes!" they responded in unison.
Rex raised his voice to a whisper.
"Let's go save her!"
◇◇◇
Lillie woke with a stabbing pain in her temples. The world spun around her, revealing a luxuriously decorated room with crimson tapestries and gilded furniture. Silks and velvets surrounded her, but something was terribly wrong.
She looked down and a scream caught in her throat. Her clothes had disappeared, replaced by a semi-transparent babydoll that barely concealed her underwear. She instinctively covered herself with trembling hands.
"What's happening? Where am I?"
As she tried to order her thoughts, the door opened with a sinister creak. There, silhouetted against the hallway light, stood an obese man clad in a silk robe that opened indecently. Timothy Ford Lafan watched her with eyes that seemed to pierce through her.
"Oho-ho, you're more beautiful than they told me," he said, his voice greasy and unctuous. "Tell me, you haven't given yourself to anyone yet, have you? It's been years since I've tasted a virgin, and I'm eager for it."
He advanced toward the bed, his heaviness making the wooden floor creak. Lillie retreated until she hit the headboard, with nowhere to run.
"I like being rough with the used ones, but with the untouched ones I'll be gentle, hehe."
When his plump hands reached for her, an inner voice screamed in her mind: "Move!". She reacted on instinct, rolling to the side just as the door burst open.
A subordinate rushed into the room, accidentally colliding with the baron and sending him onto the bed.
"Milord, there are problems! An intruder is causing havoc!"
Lafan sat up, furious.
"Why are you interrupting me? If there's an intruder, eliminate him!"
"That's the problem, milord! The intruder is tearing through all our guards and is looking for you. You must flee immediately!"
The screams coming from the lower floor confirmed his words. The baron visibly paled, grabbed his slippers, and pointed at Lillie.
"Alright, I'll flee, but I won't leave her. Take her and let's go to the shelter quickly!"
"At your command!"
The thug grabbed Lillie like a sack, throwing her over his shoulder. They ran out of the room, down side stairs until they reached an interior courtyard.
Just as they reached the exit, Rex jumped from an upper window, landing in front of them with feline agility. He was covered in others' blood, his eyes blazing with ferocity.
"Lillie!"
The baron shouted to his bodyguard.
"Face him!"
He pushed Lillie toward the baron, and the latter fled with her as the bodyguard drew his sword.
"You chose the wrong enemy, boy. They know me as the Game of Betrayal and I—"
"I'm not interested in an NPC's monologue!"
Rex moved like lightning. A silver flash, a choked gurgle, and the bodyguard fell with his throat slit. Without wasting a second, Rex ran after the fugitives.
◇◇◇
Patrick ran as if hell itself were chasing him.
"Hiaaaaah!"
His heart hammered against his ribs. After infiltrating, he'd been discovered by a thug with a mohawk named Alejandros Hardner who now pursued him with murderous determination.
"Come back here, damn coward!"
"No, thanks!"
Patrick zigzagged through alleys until a brick wall cut off his escape. Dead end. The thug, Alejandros Hardner, smiled as he drew a huge mace.
"I was bored, getting rusty... but thanks to you I'll have some entertainment. Try to last long, boy."
Patrick, trembling, extended his hands.
"Water Wall!"
A wall of water as dense as steel emerged between them. Hardner struck the barrier, surprised by its resistance.
"This is hard to break..."
"T-thanks," panted Patrick. "I specialize in defense, since it's the only thing my magic is good for."
Hardner paused thoughtfully for a moment, then placed his hands on the wall.
"That will serve us. You can't break it," Patrick asserted with fragile confidence.
But then the wall began to evaporate, turning into mist under the heat of the thug's incandescent hands.
"Very good trick, boy. But when you mess with someone who uses fire magic, you should know that unless you use rock magic, you won't defeat me."
The mace hit Patrick with brutal force, sending him flying against the opposite wall. A metallic taste flooded his mouth; when he spat, he saw blood on the ground.
"Get up, brat. This won't end until I'm satisfied."
As he approached to finish him off, the wall behind Hardner exploded in a rain of debris. A second thug, with dark skin and a mohawk named Royman Rodriguez, came flying out to crash beside him.
Both looked incredulously at the figure emerging from the dust: Donny, with an expression of fierce determination.
"Is that all you've got, huh? You were just a warm-up..." he shouted. "Patrick, what are you doing on the ground?"
"Donny-kun, did you do that?"
"Obviously!"
His tough face froze when he and Patrick recognized the two thugs. Hardner and his companion also seemed to recognize them.
"Royman? Is that you?"
"Long time no see, young master."
"Hardner... what are you doing here?"
"So it's you again."
Royman got up, addressing his companion.
"Hey, it seems I found the young master I used to serve. Let's switch."
"I was thinking the same."
The thugs exchanged opponents. Royman looked at Patrick with disdain.
"I'm surprised you're here, especially since you're the inept son of the family."
"That's not true!"
"Of course it is!"
Royman drew his sword, invoking rock magic. Patrick's water magic turned into impotent mud before being cut in two.
"Don't try to act tough. When I worked for your family, you were still a little boy... but I remember it like it was yesterday."
As Royman attacked, he recounted the cruel truth: Viscount Hogan, Patrick's father, had had two sons. A talented heir and a younger son incompetent in magic, only capable of creating a water wall. In a family of royal protectors, Patrick was a dishonor. They gave him away to a secondary branch, stripping him of his lineage.
Meanwhile, Hardner laughed as he received Donny's explosive blows.
"Hahaha! Did you hear that, Connor? That guy is even more pathetic than you."
"I'm grateful to my current lord, who isn't an incompetent like your father."
"Don't speak ill of my father!"
Donny's anger erupted at the mention of his parent. His family had lost everything when his father, a just marquis, fought against a corrupt noble. The evidence presented turned against them, stripping them of title and lands.
Donny, distracted by fury, received a direct hit that sent him flying next to Patrick. Both lay defeated, the mocking thugs stepping on them.
"Hahaha, these losers made it difficult for us."
"That's on you, letting this brat hit you."
"Hey, this idiot hit me in the groin and then bombarded my face. Anyone would fall for a trap like that."
"Now, what do we do? Let's get information out of them about how many there are. The boss will be furious about being interrupted."
The end seemed to have come for them.
Until a deep voice echoed from the end of the hallway.
"Hey."
Slow footsteps approached. A young man walked with disinterest, reading a brown book.
"Take your feet off those two. They're academy students. Messing with them will bring you severe problems."
The thugs laughed, but the young man began to count with glacial calm.
"I'll count to three. If you don't remove your feet, I'll end you."
Hardner advanced toward him, drawing his mace.
"Three seconds have passed and nothing happened. Except for this! Take this!"
He swung his weapon to cut off his head... but something fell to the ground. It was the mace, split in two as if it were butter.
"But how is that possible?"
Before he could react, the young man struck with his book, impacting with brutal force against Hardner's skull. The sound of breaking bones was followed by a deadly silence.
Royman paled, sweating cold.
"Now I remember you... that spiky blue hair, those green eyes that look with boredom... You are...!"
The young man opened his book, from which a gleaming sword emerged.
"It's too late for introductions."
A quick movement, a flash of steel, and Royman fell divided on the floor.
Donny, helping Patrick up, got into a defensive stance.
"Who are you?"
"He is Drake Ford Hogan," Patrick answered in a trembling voice. "My older brother."
"Your brother?" Donny held his breath. "The Drake of the Hogan house? The one said to be the strongest second-year student at the academy? The one who defeated the knight commander in an exhibition tournament in less than a minute? I thought those were just exaggerations..."
"It's exactly as he says," Drake confirmed disdainfully. "You two are useless now. Leave and let me handle this."
As Drake walked away, Patrick stopped him.
"Nii-san..."
Drake stopped, looking at him with those deeply disinterested eyes.
"Why did you get involved in a place where you weren't fit to fight? His Highness the second prince asked me to come help you. I've already saved two fools and I'm going to find the third one."
He quickly walked away, leaving the boys sunk in humiliation and impotence.
"Damn it... we came to help and were humiliated, then saved... this is the worst."
Both felt grateful for the rescue, but at the same time wished the earth would swallow them. Their confidence had been destroyed in seconds, a bitter lesson that would mark their future.
◇◇◇
Baron Lafan ran with implausible speed for a man of his obesity. pant "Damn it! Where are the knights when you need them!"
He carried Lillie on his back, his surprising endurance for someone who dedicated his life to excesses. He didn't notice that Rex was following him like a wolf stalking its prey.
"Damn pig, come back here now and I'll let you go without too many blows!"
"Don't make me laugh! Do you have any idea who protects me? They'll turn you into soup if you dare do anything to me!"
Rex stopped momentarily, doubt sticking in his mind like a knife.
(It's true... in the game, nobles started interfering when the heroine defeated Baron Lafan. But the prince and the others protected her. In real life, I have no one to protect me. Not even Ethan would intervene, since the second prince has no real authority...)
(If I withdraw now and go for them, we can get out of this. I'm sorry, Lilli—)
Before he could complete the thought, a heart-wrenching scream cut through the night.
"Rex-saaaaan! Save me, please!"
Seeing her tears, something broke inside him. He punched himself in the nose, feeling the pain clear his doubts.
"Why are you doubting, idiot?! You must not doubt when saving someone important to you! Even if I have to face the government of this country, I will not hesitate to protect those who matter to me! I will never allow myself to doubt again! Lillie!"
Rex launched himself forward, but at that moment...
"Kakakaka!"
A shrill laugh cut through the air. Something flew over them, landing in front of the baron with brutal impact. A violent kick made Lafan release Lillie, who fell rolling directly into Rex's arms.
"Lillie, are you okay?"
She hugged him tightly, but their touching moment was interrupted by the baron's agonizing screams.
"Ah! Help me, please!"
"I found a huge pig. This one will be a feast," the newcomer's voice was a sinister singsong.
As he cut the baron's skin with deliberate cruelty, Rex recognized the extremely thin man, the claw-blades, the bandage over the eyes... Zadu.
"Too greasy..." he spat out a piece of torn-off nose.
He turned toward them, his head tilted at an unnatural angle.
"That looks more appetizing."
He lunged at supernatural speed. Rex reacted on instinct, pushing Lillie toward a nearby horse trough.
"Rex-san!" she screamed, watching him face the murderer.
Zadu stuck out his tongue, as if he could taste his movements before they happened. Rex remained silent, studying every tic, every breath.
"Do you really want to do this? Zadu..."
The assassin lunged, his daggers seeking his throat. Rex blocked with his sword, then stretched out his hand with movements too fast to see. Zadu fell back, both momentarily immobilized.
Rex spoke as the assassin touched his face, discovering with horror that the bandage hiding his eyes was missing.
"Or should I call you by your real name..."
Zadu turned around, and Rex held his breath. The eyes looking back at him were terribly familiar.
"Robert-sensei."
His teacher looked at him with completely black pupils that promised certain death now that his secret was revealed.